Alfred Duggan
Encyclopedia
Alfred Duggan was an English historian, archeologist and best-selling historical novelist during the 1950s. Although he was raised in England, Duggan was born Alfred Leo Duggan in Buenos Aires
, Argentina
to a family of wealthy landowners of Irish
descent. His family moved to England when he was two years old. His father Alfredo Hubert Duggan, a third-generation Irish Argentinian, was appointed in 1905 to the Argentine Legation in London, and died in 1915. In 1917, his mother, the Alabama
-born Grace Elvira Hinds
, daughter of the U.S. Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, became the second wife of Lord Curzon, the former Viceroy of India. Duggan and his brother Hubert
(1904–1943) were raised in England at Curzon's seats, and were educated, first at Eton, then Oxford University, where they became acquainted with Anthony Powell
and Evelyn Waugh
.
Alfred Duggan kept a car while up at Oxford, one of the few students with sufficient funding and influence to be able to get away with this; the University Statutes prohibited undergraduate members of the University from keeping a car within a certain distance of the town centre at Carfax, so Duggan kept his vehicle just outside the limit of the jurisdiction of the University Proctors, and would regularly drive himself and his friends to and from London during the Season. Needless to say, the car in question was an early Rolls-Royce.
His novels are known for being grounded on meticulous historical research. He also wrote some excellent popular histories of Ancient Rome
and the Middle Ages
. Knight With Armour was his first novel, written in 1946. He visited practically every place and battlefield described in the book, because he was also an archeologist, having worked on excavations in Istanbul
during the 1930s.
Most of the stories are told from the viewpoint of the ruling class, sometimes the ruler and sometimes a knight or noble. In English history, his novels show a general approval of the Norman conquest.
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
to a family of wealthy landowners of Irish
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
descent. His family moved to England when he was two years old. His father Alfredo Hubert Duggan, a third-generation Irish Argentinian, was appointed in 1905 to the Argentine Legation in London, and died in 1915. In 1917, his mother, the Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
-born Grace Elvira Hinds
Grace Curzon, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston
Grace Elvina, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston was born as Grace Elvina Hinds in Alabama, a daughter of J. Monroe Hinds, former United States Minister to Brazil...
, daughter of the U.S. Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, became the second wife of Lord Curzon, the former Viceroy of India. Duggan and his brother Hubert
Hubert Duggan
Hubert John Duggan was a British Army officer and politician, who was Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Acton from 1931 until his death...
(1904–1943) were raised in England at Curzon's seats, and were educated, first at Eton, then Oxford University, where they became acquainted with Anthony Powell
Anthony Powell
Anthony Dymoke Powell CH, CBE was an English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975....
and Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
.
Alfred Duggan kept a car while up at Oxford, one of the few students with sufficient funding and influence to be able to get away with this; the University Statutes prohibited undergraduate members of the University from keeping a car within a certain distance of the town centre at Carfax, so Duggan kept his vehicle just outside the limit of the jurisdiction of the University Proctors, and would regularly drive himself and his friends to and from London during the Season. Needless to say, the car in question was an early Rolls-Royce.
His novels are known for being grounded on meticulous historical research. He also wrote some excellent popular histories of Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
and the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. Knight With Armour was his first novel, written in 1946. He visited practically every place and battlefield described in the book, because he was also an archeologist, having worked on excavations in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
during the 1930s.
Viewpoint
Unlike most historical novelists, he does not idealise his subjects. A few of the characters are noble, some rather nasty, a lot mixed in their motives. Some of the novels can be seen as funny, in a dry and noirish style. A recurring theme is the slow moral corruption of a character who begins with an exalted opinion of himself as noble, wise and brave but who destroys himself morally through a series of compromises.Most of the stories are told from the viewpoint of the ruling class, sometimes the ruler and sometimes a knight or noble. In English history, his novels show a general approval of the Norman conquest.
Novels
- Knight with Armour (1950). The First CrusadeFirst CrusadeThe First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
, from the viewpoint of a rather ordinary knight - Conscience of the KingConscience of the King (novel)Conscience of the King is a historical novel by the English author Alfred Duggan. The novel follows the speculative exploits of Cerdic Elesing, legendary founder of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, from his birth in 451 AD of Germanic and Romano-British descent through his rise to power as...
(1951). A speculative life of CerdicCerdic of WessexCerdic was probably the first King of Anglo-Saxon Wessex from 519 to 534, cited by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the founder of the kingdom of Wessex and ancestor of all its subsequent kings...
, the founder of Wessex - The Little EmperorsThe Little EmperorsThe Little Emperors is a 1951 historical novel by the English author Alfred Duggan. The novel follows the speculative exploits of Caius Felix in the Roman-British province of Britannia Prima.-Plot synopsis:...
(1951). A succession of coups in late-Roman Britain. - Lady for Ransom (1953). Norman mercenaries from the West serving the Byzantine Empire in the 11th century
- Leopards and Lilies (1954) A noblewoman seeking her own advantage in the dangerous politics of England under King JohnJohn of EnglandJohn , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
and Henry IIIHenry IIIHenry III may refer to:*Henry III, Duke of Bavaria *Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor *Henry the Lion, Henry III of Saxony, *Henry III of England *Henry III, Count of Champagne, , also King Henry I of Navarre... - God and My Right (1955). The life of St Thomas BecketThomas BecketThomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
- Winter Quarters (1956). Two Gauls in the time of Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
. One of them believes himself to be under a curse from the Mother Goddess, whose worship he finds throughout the Roman world. - Three's Company (1958) the career of LepidusMarcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , was a Roman patrician who rose to become a member of the Second Triumvirate and Pontifex Maximus. His father, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, had been involved in a rebellion against the Roman Republic.Lepidus was among Julius Caesar's greatest supporters...
, triumvir with Octavian and Marcus Antonius after the death of Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.... - Founding Fathers, U.S. title, Children of the Wolf (1959). RomulusRomulus- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...
and the founding of Rome - The Cunning of the Dove (1960). The career of Edward the ConfessorEdward the ConfessorEdward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
, told by one of his servants - it is implied that this servant was the major informant for the author of the Vita Edwardi - The King of Athelney, U.S. title, The Right Line of Cerdic (1961). The life of Alfred the GreatAlfred the GreatAlfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
- Lord Geoffrey's Fancy (1962). Life in one of the short-lived Crusader kingdoms in Greece, told by an ordinary knight
- Elephants and Castles, U.S. title, Besieger of Cities (1963). The life of Demetrius I of MacedonDemetrius I of MacedonDemetrius I , called Poliorcetes , son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Stratonice, was a king of Macedon...
, one of the Successors after the death of Alexander the Great; after being declared a god as a young man, everything else is an anticlimax. - Family Favourites (1963). An ordinary Roman soldier witnesses the reign of Emperor ElagabalusElagabalusElagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. Early in his youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown, Emesa...
- Count Bohemond (1964). Another account of the First CrusadeFirst CrusadeThe First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
, this time from the viewpoint of Bohemond, one of its leaders
Non fiction
- Thomas Becket of Canterbury (1952)
- Julius Caesar: A Great Life in Brief (1955)
- My Life for My Sheep: Thomas a Becket (1955)
- He Died Old: Mithradates Eupator, King of Pontus (1958)
- Devil's Brood: The Angevin Family (1957)
- Look at Castles (1960). For young readers.
- The Castle Book (1961)
- Look At Churches (1961)
- Growing Up in Thirteenth Century England (1962)
- The Story of the Crusades 1097-1291 (1963)
- The Romans (1965). For young readers.
- Growing up with the Norman Conquest (1965)
- The Falcon And the Dove: A Life of Thomas Becket of Canterbury (1971)